■ Iraq
Saddam talking to US
Saddam Hussein has given his US captors information on hidden weapons and as much as $40 billion he may have seized while he was Iraq's president, an Iraqi official was quoted as saying on Monday. "Saddam has confessed the names of people he told to keep the money and he gave names of those who have information on equipment and weapons warehouses," Iyad Allawi, a member of the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat daily. "The Governing Council is searching for US$40 billion worth of funds seized by Saddam when he was in power and which has been deposited in Switzerland, Japan, Germany and other countries under the names of fictitious companies," Allawi said.
■ Burundi
Pope's ambassador killed
Gunmen shot and killed the pope's ambassador in Burundi as he was returning from a funeral in the southern part of the country, President Domitien Ndayizeye said. Archbishop Michael Courtney, 58, died during surgery at Prince Louis Rwagasore Hospital, a hospital official said, announcing the death at 6pm Monday. Courtney was shot in the head, shoulder and a limb. Ndayizeye said investigations were under way. The shooting occurred about 50km south of Bujumbura on Lake Tanganyika in an area that is a stronghold of the rebel group National Liberation Forces. A priest in the car was lightly injured, while the driver and a hitchhiker were unharmed.
■ Australia
Police shoot killer croc
Police said yesterday they have shot and killed a crocodile believed to have slain a 22-year-old man last week and plan to cut the animal open to search for the man's remains. Police shot the 3.8m saltwater crocodile late Monday night near where Brett Mann was snatched from a river on Dec. 21. Searchers spent the past week on dirt bikes and in helicopters sweeping the area for his body and the crocodile that took him.
■ United States
Hilton a hit with pizza lovers
The simple life has rubbed off on hotel heiress Paris Hilton -- or so one would think judging by the amount of Domino's pepperoni pizza ordered in her name. "Paris Hilton" is the No. 1 fake name used by people calling for pizza deliveries, according to a survey of Domino's Pizza drivers in Washington. And 38 percent of those using the name of the socialite model ordered pepperoni topping. US Attorney General John Ashcroft might want to open an investigation into these findings -- he was No. 2 on the list of assumed names used by people ordering pizza. Of course, given his conservative bent, he probably wasn't among those answering the door in the nude, who the survey said tend to tip better than people who answer in their pajamas.
■ United States
Nude Barbie pics approved
A federal appeals court upheld a Utah artist's right to make nude photos of Barbie dolls being menaced by kitchen appliances. Noting the image of Barbie dolls is "ripe for social comment," a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected toymaker Mattel 's appeal of a lower court ruling in favor of lampooning the popular doll. The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled that naked photos of Barbie made by Kanab, Utah, artist Thomas Forsythe were meant to be a parody and could not affect demand for Mattel products.
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
The Bolivian government on Friday struck a deal with protesting miners, but was still grappling with blockades and demonstrations by other workers across La Paz. Other groups are still blocking access roads into the city, which is also the seat of the government. Police on Thursday prevented the miners from entering the main square by using tear gas, while the demonstrators hurled stones and explosives with slingshots. Protests against the policies of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz have convulsed the Andean nation since early this month, and roadblocks were choking routes into La Paz throughout Friday, the national road authority said. Miners demanded that Paz
The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. “We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” said Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English. The poem was also within the main body of Latin text, she said, calling it “extraordinary.” Composed in Old English by a Northumbrian agricultural worker in the 7th century, Caedmon’s Hymn appears within some copies of
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